Karl has shingles

Well, all that sharp back pain is being caused not by cancer but SHINGLES! Karl broke out in a rash two weeks ago, didn't tell me and when I discovered it sent him to the doctor. It's shingles- no wonder he's in a lot pain! Yes, shingles are adult chicken pocks and it is caused by low immune system-stress on the body that reactivates the dormant virus in your body. It's painful and can have long lasting effects. In other news did you guys see this today in the paper:

Gene Therapy Halts Skin Cancer
Researchers Shrink Tumors in 2 Patients With Advanced Melanoma

Aug. 31, 2006 -- Genetic engineers now can arm normal white blood cells with tools that let them weed out cancer cells and shrink large tumors. Researchers in a National Cancer Institute study had success using the technique to treat skin cancer in two men. (what they didn't say was the 2 out of 35-40 patients, those of which died)

Dr. Rosenberg is the lead, our Oncologist called him to see if Karl qualified for any clinical trials and we were turned down- not specifically for this one. But this holds promise if they can get it to work!